Film Analysis Essay on Moonlight

Introduction

The protagonist in this play goes by the name Chiron while others have nicknamed him little. At the beginning of the film, there is a group of bullies who run after Chiron. At the age of teenage, he was mostly referred as little. The primary weakness which he is struggling with is the fact that he is a gay. In most cases, the minority in the society suffer from some problems because the community treats them as an outcast. Currently, there is the gay marriage which was legalized by the constitution. This implies that gay can now date freely without being discriminated in the society. This weakness plays a significant role in making the protagonist to display some bad behaviors like the use of drugs. Little associate himself with an evil company that makes him smoke. Juan is one of the drug dealers who give shelter to Chiron after he found him on the street hiding in a crack house.

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The most inciting incident from the film is that the protagonist had different names in each stage. When he was young and being chased by the bullies due to his walking style and the fact that he was a gay, he was referred as little (Gates & Gillespie, 10). During teenager, he avoided school bullying and spends much of his time with Teresa. At this stage, he is referred to as Chiron. Later he becomes an adult who is a prominent drug dealer and goes by the name black. One of the goals committed by the protagonist at the first act break is admitting that he hated his mother. The antagonist in this film is Chiron's mother. This title is the best for her because she is against what his son does. Earlier in the play, the protagonist tells Juan and Teresa that he hated his mother only because she could not accept the fact that he was a gay. There is hatred between mother and son because the mother cannot allow her son to use drugs and be a gay and on the other hand, the son cannot love his mother for not accepting what he does with his life.

At the midpoint of the film, Chiron is a grown man who lives I Atlanta and sells drugs. The second act break is when he receives an urgent call from his best friend, Kevin. Kelvin had requested Chiron to visit him in Miami on one of the days. Despite that Kevin had a child and was now a father, he still had feelings for Chiron, and they were both happy to meet each other. The protagonist has changed in the resolution because he is finally pleased meeting Kelvin again.

As Chiron grew into adulthood and discovered his sexual orientation which was different from what the society expected and he is forced to subdue his feelings and respond to the social expectations but not his needs (Scott, 13). The conflict of individualism challenges Chiron and prevents him from attaining his goals. The low socioeconomic class that he belongs in puts him in a lousy status compared to other Miami residents and the whites since he was black. As a minority group, there are more chances that he cannot get compared to other population thus putting him in a bad position. As the script continues and Chiron is growing appreciating diversity, he fully embraces his sexual orientation. His primary goal of changing his personality changes and he is ready to stand for what he believes is his personality.

Chiron is expediency, and he takes his time to figure out who he is and takes time to bring this to fulfillment (Scott, 17). Although throughout the film Chiron has had three crucial stages, childhood, teenager and adult, in all the three he took his time and never listened to what other people nicknamed him or had to offer. Juan is an influencer. Though young and less in wisdom he challenges Chiron to stand out for what he believes in and not to allow anyone or situation to undermine him (Scott, 26). Even from the begging Juan advice Chiron that it's okay to be different and people to view you different from what is familiar to them. Kevin though a friend of Chiron, he was not ready to face the society hence advised Chiron to remain underwater as it is not okay to be different (Scott, 30). Kevin's has a calm personality as he does not like conflict or doing things differently. He is ready to silence Chiron to protect him from the hostile society.

Conclusion

McCraney plays a critical role as Juan who has been actively involved in Chiron's life vanishes. For seven years as Juan's whereabouts are not known, Chiron remains active in high school and McCraney swaps all the necessary actions. Teresa who was Juan's girlfriend has played a critical role in depicting a different personality of Chiron. After the death of Juan, Chiron had always been there for her and provided moral and financial support. People with different sexual orientation are viewed as cold and like they lack some fun in life, but this is not the case as Chiron has shown. Paula who was Chiron's mother was a drug addict who finds shelter with drug dealer made her not to provide help to his son or be there for him (Keenan, Emma, 3). To some extent, we can conclude that it lead to the poor self-esteem of the boy from the young age and lack of courage to express himself.

Work Cited

Gates, R., & Gillespie, M. B. (2017). An Introduction. FILM QUART, 71(2), 9-11.

Keenan, Emma. "Aspects of Moonlight." Cinesthesia 8.1 (2018): 3.

Scott, A. O. "Moonlight: Is This The Year's Best Movie." New York Times (2016): 13-30